I know Arabs are legendary Endurance horses, but I have a TB, not an Arab. How suited are TBs to this sport? I do lots of hacking with Jake and he loves it. I'd like to do endurance with him once FMD clears up. If anyone out there does this sport, or knows anything about it, please let me know!
I don't know very much abiout endurance except, as you said, that arabs are great for it. I would think that a TB would not be as good at endurance, but I don't know for sure. TBs aren't as "hardy" as arabs, who are known for being able to travel in heat and go without water for longer than most horses. Also, the structure of arabs is more conducive to hard and long riding. TBs are fast and I love them, but I don't know if I would use one for an endurance horse. But take into account that this is just an oopinion- I don't know enough about the sport to say for sure.
i do endurance and have an anglo arab but yrs ago did ride a tb. they do do it, a laid back horse is best, arabs excel because there heart rate can drop fast . but as long your horse is fit, and can cool down well. try pleasure rides first then increase up to 30 miles first yr. to see, tb have the speed and can do well good luck.
i think that just about any horse can do endurance if they are fit enough for it and if they like, and want to do it. i had a cob, now everyone would say you couldn't do endurance on a cob, well we did he had such an enthusasim for it, he fared better than most arabs. generally i know arabs are better but i think TBs are fine for it, as long as they enjoy it.
Arabians are full of slow twitch aerobic muscle fibres, which means they are better suited to long aerobic exercise. TB's are built differently inasmuch as they have fast twitch anaerobic muscle fibres which are better suited to fast anaerobic, short bursts of exercise. However TB's do compete and do reasonably well. I used to endurance ride a TB ex racer up to 50 miles and he did okay, the Arabs did better though.
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